Arts Maker & Manager

Who is Jonathan?

Jonathan Homsey

Arts Maker & Manager

Living in Both Worlds

Jonathan Homsey is an arts maker and manager interested in the intersection of street dance, visual art and social engagement. Born in Hong Kong and raised in the United States of America, he immigrated to Australia in 2010 where he is a graduate of Victorian College of the Arts (BA Dance) and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (MA Arts Management with Distinction). His choreographic practice has evolved from a theatrical context with works such as the award-winning Together As One (Arts House, Melbourne Fringe 2013) to an interdisciplinary practice in galleries and public spaces from Footscray Community Arts Centre (Melbourne) to 107 Projects (Sydney) and Design Festa Gallery (Tokyo).

As a teenager, Jonathan went on to dance with Top 40 artist J-Me on tours including the Aaron Carter Tour and for Radio Disney. By the ripe age of sixteen, Jonathan had the pleasure co-directing two award-winning junior dance companies (one ranked 10th in the world at Hip Hop International 2005) and joined the professional hip-hop dance troupe, Funkanometry San Diego & Unity Dance Ensemble 2 (directed by SYTYCD USA’s Tessandra Chavez). Jonathan was awarded the Bronze medal at the U.S. Hip Hop Championships, worked on projects with ABC Networks and Club Sea World and performed as an opening artist for Ashanti, Kelly Clarkson, Ja Rule, Xzibit and Nick Cannon all before the age of seventeen.

Upon turning eighteen, he went to pursue dance academically. Originally a dance major at Chapman University, Jonathan is a graduate of dance at Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) and also attended a semester at the University of Auckland where he received the Blues Award. During his time at VCA he was honoured to perform choreography from artists such as Sandra Parker, Stephanie Lake and Brooke Stamp, has been a lecturer of dance at Victorian College of the Arts and at the World Alliance for Arts Education Conference in New Zealand. He is currently lecturing at JMC Academy.

Jonathan’s practice post-graduation has led him to work with street dance and conceptual art. From Circus Oz to national tours for Australian pop star George Maple, Jonathan’s choreographic practice goes beyond genre lines. As a producer, he is passionate about social engagement working on events such as Melbourne Music Week 2016 , 2017 Australian Dance Awards, Australian Youth Dance Festival and Dance Massive (during his time at Ausdance New South Wales and Victoria’s Arts Media and Marketing Officer from 2016-2018). He is currently Development Manager for Dancehouse aiming to connect the dance community in this iconic Australian centre of independent dance.

In addition, Jonathan is passionate about community outreach through dance collectives. He has had the pleasure to dance with Beatphonik and be a co-founder of the groups Sole Symphony Movement, and Menagerie Dance Co-operative. He has currently created Jazz Club!, an online virtual reality dance crew advocating for human rights, with 100% of it funds donated to Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. His most recent work Mx.Red amalgamates all his passions for social engagement and conceptual art with the creation of 14 art installations as part of the Festival of Live Art at Footscray Community Arts Centre. In 2019, he is embarking on intensive creative research around empowering people of all abilities through dance across USA and Australia as part of Creative Victoria’s Creator’s Fund.